


To change or stay the same

by astralplanewife



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Comedy, F/F, Femslash, Friends to Lovers, Mental Health Issues, Redemption, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-07-25 05:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralplanewife/pseuds/astralplanewife
Summary: Ty Lee doesn't know what to think of Azula after she sends Ty Lee to "rot in prison". She really, really doesn't.





	1. I will never believe in anything again

**Author's Note:**

> *arrives to the fandom 10 years late with starbucks and a wish-fulfillment fanfic* what up guys
> 
> beta read by @reaperduckling  
> edit: 21/12-18 i rewrote some parts of this to make it better!
> 
> EDIT: This fanfic was previously named ”Hello Stranger”. I re-named it now bc I regretted the previous title.

When Ty Lee and Mai first arrived in the high-security Fire Nation prison, they were greeted with some sour faces. No, not the guard that ate lemons with the peel on during rounds, but rather a group of girls wearing prisoner rags that were their cellmates. Ty Lee didn't think much of this at first, at least not until she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder while she was getting her gruel in the cafeteria.

"Oh, you're my cellmates! Hi, I'm Ty Lee, nice to meet you!" She tried to shake the other girl's hand, but she refused.

"No, it's not nice to meet you! I'm Asuka of the Kyoshi Warriors! You and that other gloomy chick are the ones that captured us in the first place!" Asuka(apparently) snapped back.

Oh.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't recognize you without your beautiful makeup on!" Ty Lee responded.

Mai appeared seemingly out of nowhere and stepped between Ty Lee and Asuka of the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Back off! If you were to think for a second, you'd see that we're also prisoners of the Fire Nation. There's no point of fighting when we're in jail together, we've beat you once and we'll beat you again." Mai said.

"Uh, we're really sorry for capturing you though! We were only doing it because Azula told us to. Later on, we…betrayed her… _sort of_ , so that's why we're in here." Ty Lee explained sheepishly.

Asuka seemed stunned, and so did her crew.

"Well… That does explain a lot…. Well, if you ended up betraying the Fire Nation, I guess there's no point in holding a grudge now…" Asuka said, scratching her head.

"Yeah, maybe we could all be friends instead! Doesn't that sound like so much fun?" Ty Lee asked excitedly.

Mai rolled her eyes(although it was hard to tell what expression she was making through her usual raccoon eye makeup), but still followed Ty Lee and the Kyoshi Warriors to the table where they all had their gruel lunch, now turned _fun new friends-lunch_.

-*-

Later on back in their shared cell, as Ty Lee was showing the girls some basic chi blocking moves while the guards weren't around, Mai started doing some weird hand gestures towards her. They looked almost exactly like the hand signs they used to use when they went on missions with Azula, way back two days ago when they were still all friends….

"Mai, what are you doing with your hands? Are you trying to fan away imaginary spiders? Or maybe some real ones? This prison is kind of a dump, so it wouldn't surprise me if this place was actually crawling with spiders," Ty Lee chirped.

"No, I'm…. Just come here!" Mai said, sounding very annoyed. Maybe there really were real spiders?

Ty Lee walked to the other end of the cell(which wasn't very far) were Mai stood. It felt like she wanted to tell Ty Lee something like perhaps talk about something secret.

It seemed like the Kyoshi warrior girls had picked up on that too.

"Uh, we'll just cover our ears and hum if you guys have something secret to discuss," one of the Kyoshi Warrior girls whose name Ty Lee had forgotten to ask said.

"You better!" Mai responded loudly, and continued in a hushed whisper to Ty Lee:

"I have already contacted my… contacts. They can get us out pretty soon. We'll just have to sit tight for a while."

"Are we whispering? Ok! Oh, Mai, you're so smart and competent! And I guess prison for a while won't be so bad, look, I already made us friends!" Ty Lee whispered back, very excitedly.

"I don't know about that, but fine," Mai said, hard-set. She turned around and faced the Kyoshi girls, and put on an expression of cool indifference.

Well, even if Mai was going to be a sourpuss, as usual, Ty Lee was going to make her hopefully short time in prison the best time ever!

-*-

At night, even if Ty Lee was a little embarrassed to admit it, she dreamt of the (not so long ago) time when Azula was still her friend. However, the dreams were slightly creative in that they were running through flower fields together, not hunting the Avatar.

Here's one:

"Wait, Azula! You're stepping on the flowers!" Ty Lee said, taking careful steps to avoid trampling any of the flowers.

"They should rightfully be stepped on for daring to grow in the way of my princessly foot!" Azula boasted, stepping on as many flowers as she pleased.

"But what about their feelings? Maybe they don't want to be walked all over just so you can do whatever you want?" Ty Lee pleaded.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter what they think. They're just… silly flowers. Very girly and pink. Nothing worth really considering the ‘feelings' of." Azula said, doing finger quotes in the air.

And then Ty Lee would wake up, wondering if this could perhaps be some kind of symbolism.

-*-

One afternoon, Mai seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood(even if they were scrubbing the prison latrines).

"What are you going to do when we get out of prison?" Mai asked, sounding surprisingly tender.

"I'll join the Kyoshi Warriors, of course! They're a riot! But uh… I don't know… Mai… what are we going to do about Azula?" Ty Lee asked, putting her nasty, nasty sponge down.

"Forget about Azula, I don't want to see her ever again," Mai said, her former tenderness transforming into bitterness.

"But… we're friends… I'm sure she'll forgive us eventually?"

"Her? Forgiving us? She was the one who sent us to "rot in prison", why does it matter what she thinks?

"Well…. I still like Azula, even though she's usually really mean and very threatening… But I mean, she's so pretty and cool and stuff." Ty Lee said carefully.

"It doesn't matter how ‘cool and stuff' she is, she has been a really bad friend to m-I mean, us, from the beginning. I'm sick of her games, aren't you?"

"I don't know…." Ty Lee said sadly and began scrubbing the floor anew.

-*-

And before Ty Lee knew it, one morning, a prison guard just let Ty Lee and her cellmates out. The guard said(between munching on his lemon like an apple)that they were free to go, and that the war was now over. Avatar Aang had defeated Fire Lord Ozai.

"Sweet! Hey, can I join you guys? I have nothing better to do now and you guys are really fun!" Ty Lee asked the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Sure?" Asuka said while shrugging.

-*-

Being a Kyoshi warrior was really fun! You got to help out the common folk with their common people problems, do well in the world, and wear fabulous pounds of makeup every day! Ty Lee was so, so happy.

Or at least she wanted to be.

A part of her still really missed Azula. However, she had come to realize that Mai had been kind of right about Azula. Azula was… a bit two-faced. She was so perfect and beautiful, but also so mean. In retrospect, a lot of things she had done had made Ty Lee feel worse about herself than she already did… Choosing to not to think about Azula was easiest(especially since Azula was apparently in a mental hospital now and Ty Lee did not want to open that can of worms).

So, Ty Lee decided to not think about Azula. It worked for the most part.

-*-

Time passed and went on. Several years flew by. Ty Lee became a seasoned Kyoshi Warrior and saw the world several times over. One summer, she decided to take a solo vacation to the Ember Islands.

-*-

One day, Ty Lee was walking the streets of the touristy part of town. When she ran into…

 "Azula?" Ty Lee screeched, completely flabbergasted.

"Yeah, uh, yeah. It's… me. I guess. "Azula said, acting like a completely different person than Ty Lee remembered. She was standing a bit hunched, and even looked a bit… _anxious_?

"What are you doing here? I thought you were in a mental hospital?"

"Yeah, I was for a long while actually. I talked to the doctors there a lot and took a lot of medication. It's a bit of a blur, honestly. Then, when the hallucinations got better, I was released and was ‘retired' to here, as the _Fire Nation's biggest Royal Embarrassment_." Azula said, sounding a bit more like herself the more she spoke.

"Oh! Well, that's great! Ty Lee chirped.

"Look… Ty Lee, I'm really sorry for treating you the way I did when we were chasing the Avatar together. And everything before that, too. I was drunk on the power manipulating others could give me. I think a lot of it that was passed on from my father to me, I've been talking a lot about that in therapy…"

This was _it_. This was…

"That's more of an apology than I ever thought I'd hear from you. Ever. I thought I would just go through my entire life without speaking to you again." Ty Lee said.

Azula winced.

"Yeah, I would kind of deserve that, wouldn't I…" she said.

"I think some people would think that. But I _don't_." Ty Lee said.

Azula's eyes went wide.

Ty Lee laughed and grasped Azula's reluctant hand.

"Let's live here together! We could get like five dogs and buy a giant house where they could all run arou-"

"I'm not so sure that's a great idea. I'm still going through therapy, and I still don't know how much has _really_ changed. I really, really don't want to mess this up. But maybe we could... exchange letters? For a start?" Azula interrupted her.

As a start, it _could_ work. It really, _really_ could. Ty Lee wished for it so hard to just work, just this one time, that it felt like her heart could _burst_ from just wanting this too much.

-*-

A  few hundred letters, a giant house, and _six_ dogs later, it turned out that it could all work out. Just this once.


	2. Kick drum beating in my chest again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey i decided to go back to this! please tell me what u thonk

Ty Lee was taking her six dogs for a morning walk on the beach and admiring the beautiful scenery(palm trees, water, sand: the whole shebang) when she suddenly heard what sounded like an entire orchestra of bombastic trumpets and drums. Maybe there was a concert going on? Rushing home with her herd of dogs in tow to tell Azula of her suggestion of what to do for today, Ty Lee realized that it wasn’t an actual concert that had been playing. It had been the royal travel orchestra formally announcing the arrival of Fire Lord Zuko to the Ember Islands.

And they were all awkwardly standing on her porch.

“Zuko!” Ty Lee squeaked and tried to throw herself around Zuko’s neck, but her efforts were thwarted by Zuko dodging her unexpectedly and Ty Lee did a somersault on the floor instead. But she landed gracefully, so it mostly just looked cool!

“Uh, sorry. You just looked kind of scary with your charging rabid dog pack,” Zuko said awkwardly, but quickly added: “I’m joking!”

“If you’re scared of only six dogs, I’m not sure the future of our nation is in great hands,” Azula said, slinking out of the front door to stand beside Ty Lee.

“Azula, we’ve talked about this!” Zuko muttered, red in the face.

“Oh, right. I do think that you insulting my dogs and letting my girlfriend fall to that what could’ve been her untimely demise gives me a free pass, though,” Azula said breezily while taking Ty Lee’s hand.

“It’s ok though!” Ty Lee said. “So, uh, Zuko. What brings you and your finest band of musicians here?”

“I just wanted to check in on Azula. And you, I guess,” Zuko said, scratching the back of his head and starting to mess up his fancy Fire Lord topknot.

“Well. We are fine,” Azula said. “I assume you want to do a sibling bonding activity together?”

“Yeah!” Zuko said, "Do you like mini-golf?"

“Please, Zuko. We’re rich. We can play regular golf!” Azula said with an elegant hair flip.

-*-

After spending the day at the golf course, Ty Lee thought to herself (and said out loud) that she’d had the best day ever. Azula and Zuko disagreed.

“I should’ve ordered my royal band to not play background trumpet music every time it was my turn on the golf course,” Zuko said bitterly.

“My thoughts exactly,” Azula said while dramatically lounging on a chaise lounge in their living room. “I have a headache now.”

Ty Lee considered that for a moment.

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Ty Lee said innocently and planted a chaste kiss on Azula’s forehead.

“ _Yurp_!” Zuko said. “Get a room!”

“What are you, _twelve_?” Azula said incredulously while sitting up in a dramatic fashion..“When we were hunting the avatar you and Mai were always crawling over each other, you hypocrite!”

“Uh,” Ty Lee said. This was escalating very quickly. “ _Anyway_ , how’s Mai? I haven’t talked to her in a while.”

“You know well enough that I am 27 now, Azula!” Zuko sputtered. “And uh, Mai’s great! Happy as can be! I thought you guys talked to each other all the time.”

Azula crossed her arms and looked just as sad as she usually did when Mai’s name got mentioned.

“Not really.” Ty Lee said. “Things have been kind of awkward between Mai and I since I moved in with Azula.”

"Oh," Zuko said. “Well, I’m sure she doesn’t mean it like that. And anyway, whatever beef Mai has with, uh, _some people_ present in this room doesn’t really matter as it all happened ten years ago. I don’t think she’s actually mad at this mystery person who shall remain nameless.”

“Can’t you just say it outright?” Azula said. “She won’t talk to _me_. And it’s her right to make that decision.”

“ _Yeah_ …” Zuko winced. “But still. _Ten years ago_. Maybe not something to dwell on.”

“You’re right. But I’m happy she’s well,” Azula said.

“Me too!” Ty Lee said enthusiastically and took Azula’s hand. She squeezed it once for support.

Azula squeezed her hand back.

-*-

 

Several weeks after Zuko’s visit, a royal messenger hawk with a letter from a certain someone arrived at Ty Lee and Azula’s mansion.

What’s up homos*!

So this is Mai. I’ll soon be the queen now or whatever. What even happened? So uh anywayz I have been swamped with work and pre-royal duties but you can come to me and Zuko’s wedding if you want. I’m actually expecting that you will. I’ll be very upset if you don’t. We can talk more later on the actual day. I’m so busy that I had to write this letter while pretending to be in the bathroom.

Bye, I guess

*or however you identify I don’t want to be offensive

 

“Do you think that we can bring our dogs?” Ty Lee asked. “They’re like our children. They have to attend the wedding!”

“Hm. Yes. I’ll make some _arrangements_.” Azula smirked.


	3. Change will come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the last chaptero. tell me what you think.

“I haven’t been in the actual palace since I had my grand finale mental breakdown more than 10 years ago,” Azula said offhandedly while walking up the stairs to the Fire Nation Palace gates. “This should be fun.”

“Uh, really?” Ty Lee said. “Are you sure _fun_ is the word you’re looking for?”

Azula looked at her sadly.

“Yeah, no. It really isn’t. It does bring up some really bad memories, actually,” she said.

“Well. Then we make it fun!” Ty Lee chirped. “Maybe we can walk there on… our hands, doing handstands? And whenever you feel sad, you can talk to me about it, ok?”

“Well, since a servant is walking our dogs for us, I guess we have no other use for our hands right now…” Azula giggled.

-*-

“You know…” Zuko said, trailing off at the end. He didn’t really say much else.

“What?” Azula said innocently while standing upside-down, just like she and Ty Lee had agreed on.

“Well, I guess as crazy goes this is good crazy…” Zuko said hesitantly.

Ty Lee saw Azula flinch slightly at that, which did kind of worry her. A lot.

“We’re just being whimsical!” Ty Lee said only slightly defensively.

 “ _Oh_. Sorry about that.” Zuko apologized. “Um, Mai is waiting for you guys in the 12 th dining room. Or was it the 3rd guest greeting room? This palace has too many rooms to keep track of, honestly.”

“No, she isn’t!” A familiar but long-lost voice called out dramatically.

“Mai!” Ty Lee assumed. And she was right!

Mai waltzed out of the shadows and hugged Ty Lee tight. She then released Ty Lee from her vice grip and turned around to look at Azula.

“ _Uh_ ,” Azula said anxiously, fiddling with her hair and looking _really_ sweaty.

“Yeah, whatever,” Mai said, rolling her eyes sky-high, and then hugged Azula too.

-*-

The royal wedding ceremony came and went(it was kind of boring, to be honest), but the reception was a blast.

_“Stick it to the authorities/They’re all shitty!”_ Toph sang intensely while dramatically leaning backward as she got into her punk rock stage persona. _“Except for the fine police force of Republic City!”_

That seemed to be the end of her song number as she then jumped down on the floor doing the splits and then dropped her mic on the stage floor, resulting in an ungodly noise that made Ty Lee cringe. However, the tiny man acting as master of ceremonies just gingerly picked the mic up.

“Thank you, Toph Bei Fong and her band _The Metal Benders_ with their new song _‘Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Crust’_ ,” he said nervously.

“You guys all better buy our upcoming new album!” Toph chuckled jovially but since she also shook her fist in the air, it did give a bit of a mixed message.

The other entertainment acts included Avatar Aang doing a three-part number(a spinny Airbender move followed by an ass-slapping dance and a bombastic soap bubble extravaganza), Sokka doing a stand-up comedy show, Katara making a life-size replica of the bride and groom out of ice, and much more.

Ty Lee was having so much fun dancing with Azula, but at the end of the night, Azula pulled her aside. Azula glanced over at Team Avatar(who were all having a dance party) and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Do you think I should talk to them?”

“Yes!” Ty Lee screamed and dragged Azula over to the dance party.

“Uh,” Azula said(again).

The _Gaang_ dance party stopped dead in its tracks. Azula(again) started looking really sweaty.

“Oh, it’s Azula and Ty Lee. Do you guys want to dance with us or something?” Sokka asked.

“No! I mean….” Azula said. “Uh, I was actually more thinking along the lines of apologizing to you guys. For everything.”

“We appreciate your apology,” Aang said, nodding wisely. "But the truth is…"

“What Aang’s trying to say that whatever happened, even though it was really bad, was _ten years ago_. We, at least, have already forgiven you a really long time ago,” Katara said helpfully.

“Yeah!” Toph said. “Even though I’m still kinda mad at you for being such a good liar that even I can’t detect it.”

There was a long, awkward pause.

“ _Just kidding_!” Toph said while slapping Azula in the back. Azula made a noise like she had gotten the wind knocked out of her, but it turned out to just be an interlude to her giggling.

“Really?” Azula asked gleefully. As no-one had any objections, they all continued their dance party and danced all night long.

-*-

Back at their guest chamber for the night, Ty Lee was just about to fall asleep when she felt Azula stir.

“What?” Ty Lee grumbled.

“I’m just… really happy we did this. It’s haunted me for so long,” Azula said tenderly.

“Yeah? Well, tomorrow we’re all going to go golfing together. Team Avatar included. Aren’t you excited?”

Azula didn’t answer, but Ty Lee understood the implication.

_Yes._

_The End._

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, questions, concerns? Write to meeee also pls give me kudos if you enjoyed this. Please be nice i'm kind of new to writing


End file.
